Wynne 'fully expects' SIU report on Abdi to be released

Premier Kathleen Wynne sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with the Citizen's editorial board on Friday, taking questions on hydro rates, doctor negotiations, fundraising reforms and many other subjects.

Premier Kathleen Wynne says she supports the public release of the police oversight report into the death of Abdirahman Abdi, though some parts would likely be held back due to privacy concerns.

Abdi, who was Somali-Canadian, died in July following a violent confrontation with Ottawa police officers. A cause of death has not been released, and the incident is being reviewed by the provincial Special Investigations Unit.

SIU reports have traditionally not been released, but that changed in April when, following intense media scrutiny, the province released a redacted version of the SIU report into the death of Andrew Loku, who had been shot by Toronto police in July 2015.

Wynne told the Citizen on Friday there are legal concerns preventing her from making hard guarantees, but the public will likely see at least some of the Abdi report.

“I fully expect that that will be the case, but I’m not in a legal position to say that,” she said. “But I fully expect and would support that happening.”

She also pointed out that a comprehensive provincial review of police oversight is currently underway, in part to develop consistent guidelines on releasing SIU reports to the public.

“My sole concern is that we not make a blanket statement about releasing of reports without understanding the caveats around privacy and how we actually put some parameters in place to protect people’s privacy,” she said. “Other than that, I’d like to see reports released.”

Wynne sat down for a wide-ranging discussion with the Citizen’s editorial board on Friday, taking questions on hydro rates, doctor negotiations, fundraising reforms and many other subjects.

The meeting follows the prorogation of the legislature last week and a throne speech on Monday, which committed billions of dollars in promises to reduce hydro bills by eight per cent and create 100,000 more daycare spaces within five years.

“The point of the throne speech was to mark the mid-term of our mandate and to really lay out what we’ve done,” she said. “We’re doing well in Ontario, relative to the rest of the country and relative to the continent, really, in terms of economic growth and job creation. And that’s allowing us to make some decisions about supporting people and helping them in their lives every day.”

Here are some of the other comments Wynne made in the meeting. The transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

After many years of provincial deficits, Wynne has promised a balanced budget in 2018. Will it stay balanced after?

What I can say to you is that is our plan, it’s our projection. I can’t tell you if there’ll be some cataclysmic economic event. We’ve made difficult decisions, whether it’s around constraining increases for public sector workers, or the decisions ministries have had to make. We’ve tried very hard not to cut and slash across the board, and we haven’t done that. Our trajectory is to get into balance and to stay in balance.

The government has proposed reforms that will ban all politicians — including those running for office — from attending fundraisers. Why go that far? Won’t this give an advantage to incumbents?

It became clearer and clearer that what people were looking for in their politicians was a real disconnection between the political discussion of anything to do with policy and the donation of money. I think that’s fair. I think what’s not fair is to suggest that there should be one set of rules for governing MPPs and one set of rules for the rest of the legislature.

This is complicated. Riding associations are freaking out, because they’re trying to figure out what it’s going to mean to them to raise money.

I started as a completely unknown candidate for school board. Lost my first election, but raised my profile. I was always building my support on my own, I wasn’t a favoured candidate. So I have fought incumbency throughout my political career. I think everybody’s going to be developing their systems, and you can develop your team whether you’re an incumbent or not.

The Ontario Medical Association (which represents doctors) voted to reject the last tentative agreement you reached after years of negotiations. How are you going to resolve this?

The OMA is very split. We negotiated in good faith with the leadership and with their team, and they’ve got real factions within the organization. They’ve got some work to do to sort out what their positions are.

Why not go to binding arbitration?

I believe that finding a way to come to a negotiated agreement is better and more collegial. It’s better for the relationship, and I also think we need to find ways of working in partnership.

Given the recent controversies and flip-flops, do you think your government’s sex education curriculum is safe if Patrick Brown becomes premier?

I have no idea, because he’s been incredibly unclear on it. You’ll have to ask him what his latest position is.

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